Particle therapy uses beams of particles to kill cells to treat disease, typically proliferative tissue disorders such as cancer. Particle therapy can be used to treat targets in patients requiring a dose of ionizing radiation for curative effect, such as grossly observable tumors, anatomic regions containing microscopic disease or potential disease spread, or regions that include margins for motion and/or delivery uncertainties. The ionizing radiation delivered by particle therapy beams destroys the DNA and other important components of diseased cells and prevents the cells from replicating.
Typical particle therapy involves treatment planning to determine how to deliver the prescribed radiation dose to the target, while at the same time sparing healthy tissues in the vicinity by limiting doses below acceptable thresholds to prevent deadly or debilitating side effects. Treatment planning often uses X-Ray computed tomography (CT) data to determine the composition of the patient's body in conjunction with developing the particle therapy treatment plan.